The NYPD continues to hunt for the 18-year-old suspect who stabbed a social worker to death in an unprovoked attack on a New York street in the early hours of Monday morning.
Ryan Carson, 32, was returning from a wedding with his girlfriend and was waiting at a bus stop in the Bed-Stuy section of Brooklyn when he encountered the “emotionally disturbed” attacker who has so far only been identified as “Brian.”
Surveillance footage showed that after a brief interaction, Carson was tragically stabbed to death as his girlfriend watched. Shortly after “Brian” leaves the scene, another woman comes into view and begs the suspect to leave Carson alone.
Police call the woman “Brian’s” girlfriend. Prior to the encounter, the suspect had behaved erratically and kicked over scooters in the area.
The two women have a brief, inaudible interaction after the murder. Carson’s girlfriend, Claudia Morales, tells the suspect’s girlfriend, “Go check on him,” referring to “Brian.”
“Brian” is in a return-to-work program at a school in Clinton Hill, close to where the murder occurred. The search for him is centered around that neighborhood and Commodore Barry Park in the affluent Fort Greene area.
The woman identified as ‘Brian’s’ girlfriend is seen in the gruesome sting video
The teenage suspect is now being hunted by the NYPD. His name is ‘Brian’, he is 18 and is in a work program in the Clinton Hill neighborhood
Carson and his girlfriend Claudia had just attended a wedding and were on their way home
It has now emerged that the suspect was arrested earlier in 2022 for disorderly conduct and that he destroyed his partner’s belongings during an argument at her home last August.
After that incident, “Brian’s” aunt called 911 and called him “emotionally disturbed,” reports ABC New York.
Authorities confirmed that the attack was random and that Carson and “Brian” had never met before.
Despite the senseless violence, friends of the 32-year-old say it will not change his views on social justice.
‘I know he would have wanted people to use his death as a means to talk about structural abuses in the city.
“I’m absolutely certain he would immediately see that this was a person who was suffering from a lack of resources in our community, who probably needs better mental health care, possibly housing, possibly drug support, drug treatment.”
“What he would want to avenge is for us to fix how broken this city is,” said New York State Assemblymember Emily Gallagher. The Gothamist.
The girlfriend is seen in the sting video running to the scene just after the murder occurred
The girlfriend has an inaudible conversation with Carson’s girlfriend, who tells the unknown woman, “Go check on him,” referring to “Brian”
Carson worked for the New York Public Interest Research Group, a nonprofit organization where his work focused on environmental issues such as reusable bottles.
He spearheaded other Liberal causes such as creating supervised drug injection sites in the city.
Morales, according to now-closed social media profiles, was an avid BLM activist who, among other things, used the police-hating acronym ACAB in some posts.
Carson was not as outspoken in his criticism of law enforcement, but he shared similar concerns about police brutality.
“The fact is, I’m fucking scared.
“I watched this summer, like many of the past years of my life, as people I care about were attacked in the streets by police,” he said of his poetry in an October 2020 interview.
At the time of writing this, a GoFundMe page as Carson’s family has raised more than $63,000. The original goal of the page was $20,000.
Carson’s roommate Vlad Miroshnikov related it the New York Daily News that the victim’s girlfriend had told them the attacker was ‘a kid’… (He was) just marching down the street, super upset about something, on a terror path. They just happened to be on that path.”
“He was certainly not an idealist, but he believed in the power of community organizing and just community more broadly, and helping his fellow neighbor and New Yorker.”
More than 100 of Carson’s friends came out Monday night for a vigil to celebrate his life
The celebration of the activist’s life was held across the street from his home in Brooklyn’s Bed-Stuy neighborhood
Chuck Schumer paid tribute to Carson on Tuesday
Cohen went on to say that Carson began focusing on rehab when his best friend died of an overdose.
Also present at Monday’s vigil was State Assemblymember Emily Gallagher. She said News12 in an interview that the pair became close before she entered politics because they both had close friends who died of an overdose.
“It’s up to us to continue his legacy and the opioid epidemic, fight climate change, fight to make New York City and New York State a better place, and we will do our very best. If it’s not as good as Ryan, then Ryan is best remembered,” Cohen added.
“It breaks my heart to know how much he could have accomplished in his life and that it was just too soon,” friend and former colleague Jaqi Cohen said. New York 1 during Monday evening’s vigil.
The memorial took place in Herbert Von King Park, across the street from his home. More than 100 people were present.
“This is not just a loss for us. This is a loss for all of New York,” Cohen also said of the climate and drug rehabilitation activist.